Week 2

Anyway, about the last week...I have learned a few new words, bought some new stuff, and have discovered some interesting quirks about the Russian culture.

I bought a laptop / document bag for school in a little market thing outside a mall. I discovered last week that the prices in the mall were sometimes even more expensive than you'd find in the United States. And most of the stuff in the stores were extravagant and unnecessary, pretty much just obvious signs of wealth. This bag in the market was not even 800 rubles, which was reasonable.

Then, they have what I think of as a "bazaar," with tons of little tent-areas where the people inside sell whatever they have: clothes, shoes, boots, gloves, rugs, literally anything you can possibly think of. These places are extremely inexpensive, selling boots for 600 rubles or so...this is about $20. Personally, I can't tell if the boots that are selling in stores for upwards of 7000 rubles are really that much better quality, or if it's just an enormous sign of wealth to shop in stores. I'm definitely not going to be shopping much in stores, I don't think.

This sort of attitude is also visible on the streets and in homes. While the people live in relatively comfortable homes, they are by no means what Americans would consider "amazing." They also tend to be quite modest with food and water / energy conservation, and pretty much everything. The biggest thing I've noticed is that almost everyone walking around (which they all do, instead of driving everywhere like in America) has expensive looking shoes, coats, and hats. These people seem to put their whole effort into appearances, even forsaking necessities in order to appear well off and affluent.
Women who pay money to belong to a gym buy designer workout clothes, and those who go out to a show, or even just to work in the morning, don their calf-length genuine fur coats and hats. The hats alone cost thousands of rubles. I suppose this might sound like the United States a bit (except for all the fur...) in terms of attitudes toward appearances, but their streets and buildings and homes on the outside all look like they just came out of World War II with little to no restoration, and the insides of apartment buildings are little better. The insides of the actual apartments are nicer, I suppose, depending upon who lives there, but I still can't describe it as "modern living."

The concept escapes me, and it's hard to describe, but it's something that you seem to realize instantly upon being here. It's weird.

Another thing is how much the people here love Aleksandr Pushkin. My teacher at school started tearing up when she was telling us about his life and death. He died on the 10th of February 1837, so they showed a movie documentary about his life on television last night. It was kind of a crazy death, involving a duel with a French baron, but many people are personally affected by this poet, as evidenced by my teacher crying in class over his death.

Actual classes start tomorrow, instead of the "orientation" classes I've had the last week and a half, so that should be interesting. I need to study and practice some more.